A Tribute to Marian Ionescu

'Loss of a legend.
May his soul rest in peace.'

Ahmed Abbas

'Such a great loss to our specialty. He will be remembered by many and forgotten by few for all his support. May you rest in peace.'

Marius Roman

'So grateful for all his support , a tremendous loss, may his soul rest in peace'

Kirkpatrick Santo

'A great thank you to Dr Ionescu for his impact and dedication to our discipline. For being such a generous supporter of the younger generation of surgeons through the fellowships and the sponsorship of the teaching sessions during the SCTS annual meeting. For being such an inspiration together with his wife for any future generation of surgeons who will read the history on how tissue valves came about. Today we mourn your loss and our thought are with your relatives. RIP Giant!'

Fabio De Robertis

'Thank You Mr Ionescu, your legacy will continue to live on in many of us whom you helped to flourish.'

Ed Peng

'A name that kept ringing like a bell in the ears of all cardiac surgeons for decades. It was a wake up call to progress and innovation'

Sogliani Franco

'Philip and Ann Deverall and family extend their condolences to Marian's family. A long and very full life.'

Philip Deverall

Such a great man.
Deepest condolences to his family and friends.
May his soul rest in peace.
You will be always remember in our prayers'

Mohamed Osman

'Ionescu is a name that will live on in the history of heart valve surgeriy and his spirit will dwell in the mountains⚒️rope up Marian for your last great ascent.'

Francis Wells

'A giant of cardiac surgery, his legacy will live on. May he rest in peace.'

Syed Hasan

'Sad day for our Society for the loss of an inspiring leader of our speciality with all his great innovation and contribution to development and progress of our future generations of surgeons for all these decades. My Condolences to his Family. May he RIP.'

Aprim Youhana

'Deepest sympathy to his family. He was a great man and will be sorely missed. Rest in peace.'

Alison Rhodes

'A great surgeon and innovator.

Grateful for all his support to SCTS and to me personally through his generous scholarship.
May his soul rest in peace. My condolences to his family.'

Joyce Thekkudan

'I was his senior registrar and research fellow for five years at the LGI in the late 1960s. He was a brilliant technical surgeon, and I adopted many of his techniques. His command of the English language and Literature would put most of us in the shade. He was full always full of new ideas, not all of them his own. His energy was exhausting. He would appear on ITU at 2am and show you how to take a ventilator to pieces and reassemble it. Writing a paper for him was terrifying and exhausting. In all the time I worked for him I never saw him eat anything, at home or in the hospital.He existed on probanthone and cigarettes. His fuse was frighteningly short and his temper mercurial. I have visited and worked for many great human beings, and after years of thought I would regard Marian as genius which tells you much about his diverse and wide ranging temperament. I would have hated to climb a mountain with him.'

Mike Holden

'Amazing tributes on the board for a man of such stature.
A huge loss for cardiac surgery. His scholarships have no doubt helped so many of us with our dreams and aspirations, and given us a chance to progress. Rest in peace Mr Ionescu'

Izanee Mydin

'Marian was a great man with a vision who singlehandedly established a reputation for tissue vale production whilst he was in Leeds. I had the privilege of meeting with him during my initial visits to Leeds for a Consultant Post and later when he visited my operation theatre in Leeds after his retirement. I was very impressed with his sound knowledge on many subjects in addition to Cardiac surgery. He loved mountaineering and reading. His generous donations to the SCTS are well known. His demise is a great loss to the Cardiac surgical family in the UK. My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. May his soul rest in peace.'

Unni Nair

'A great surgeon and pioneer in our speciality. Mr Ionesco helped the careers of so many aspiring cardiac surgeons over the years. Rest in peace.'

Damian Balmforth

'One of those names that were almost mythological for my generation of Cardiac Surgeons. Life is eternal and love is immortal, and death is only a horizon. May rest in peace.

Giuseppe Rescigno

Great innovator and generous contributor to our SCTS younger generation.
Grateful for his generosity towards my fellowship
May His soul RIP'

Nehru Devan

I had the great and singular privilege of serving as Marian Ionescu's product director for prosthetic heart valves while employed by Shiley, latterly Pfizer Hospital Products, in the 1980s. Marian created the pericardial valve, to which millions of people owe their lives, in the early seventies and when I came along in 1980 he educated me not only in cardiac surgery but in the myriad of interests he had, although his enduring love was the mountains. His journey, escape even, to the UK with the assistance of Mr Geoffrey Wooler is a fascinating one, but his extraordinary work ethic in Leeds coupled with almost inhuman energy reserves, seemingly without food, amazed me. He could be exasperating, difficult and volcanic with rage and then sweetness and light the next; most of this was incomprehension why others could not follow his quixotic mind and genius level intellect. With his wife, Dr Christina Ionescu by his side, he pioneered the pericardial valve often in the face of frankly unpleasant personal opposition. I was fortunate enough to travel widely with Marian internationally and was welcome in his homes over the decades in Monaco and Chamonix. I am not a surgeon so cannot comment on his technical skills but to me his breadth and scale of knowledge in so many areas was breathtaking. His high speed exploits in his beloved Ferrari's round the hills of the Cote d'Zure, his generous funding of PDSA hospitals, his huge personal library and his love of art will be my fondest memories of him. We kept in touch throughout his retirement and in May 2023 I had the chance to say my farewells and to thank him for my career, which in large part I owe to his generosity of spirit, his educational abilities and unwavering support. Even at the then age of 93 in May, his brain was sharp and his intellect undiminished. I understand he has no surviving relatives, as Christina pre-deceased him, but so many people will remember him fondly and with affection. To my educator, my fellow traveller but above all my friend... farewell.'

John McKenna

'A legend in the field and a visionary who invested in training and promoting budding surgeons selflessly. Rest in peace.'

Kishore Doddakula, Cork, Ireland

'A protégé of Geof Woller " The King maker in Yorkshire", MI was a great contemporary of mine.
His "Pericardial valve making Factory " at LGI was unbelievable. He was a hard worker, charming and great thinker. People like him never die they just go to a different galaxy'

Keyvan Moghissi

'A great loss for the cardiothoracic world, for the education and the young generation of cardiothoracic surgeons. An example and a role model, who made so much difference to so many people’s life! So grateful for my Fellowship that made such a difference to my development as a surgeon! Odihna vesnica, Mr Ionescu.'

Florentina Luiza Popescu

'Definitely the biggest name, with Romanian roots, in cardiac surgery. His achievements were inspiring . Odihnește-te in pace maestre!'

Radu Gheta

'I first met Marian Ionescu in 1983 when I was a staff nurse on the cardiothoracic ward at LGI. He was charming, mercurial, funny and an excellent teacher. Over the years we became firm friends. He taught me to ski, introduced me to mountains and we climbed Mont Blanc 25 years ago. We also climbed in the Swiss Alps, he was always a delightful companion. We met frequently in Monaco and in the last few years I spent months with him. I was with him when he died, holding his hand. I had instructions of what to do when the time came - I lit two candles to light the way to the Ghiberti doors of Brunalleschi’s Duoma in Florence which Michelangelo called The Gates of Paradise. He was an exceptional man, genius, generous, eccentric, and a wonderful surgeon, a scientist and an artist. He will be missed by everyone whose life he touched'

Melanie Oates

His introduction of bovine pericardium for prosthetic heart valves has stood the test of time for over 50 years and many many patients have benefitted - now including percutaneous prosthetic valves.
Many members of SCTS have benefitted from his interest and support of our Society. He has enabled the SCTS University to be embedded in our annual meeting. He was pivotal in our ability to run the SCTS education programme and many individuals have benefitted from his scholarships to enhance their skills and knowledge.
Although it cannot be quantified, all of these initiatives have improved the quality of cardiothoracic care in the United Kingdom, Ireland and beyond.
In return it was pleasure for SCTS to facilitate the writing and distribution of several books culminating in the publication of '50 years of the Perciardial Valve'.
It is a great sadness that he decided to part ways with SCTS after such a constructive and prolific partnership. His demands of SCTS 'crossed a line' which sadly could not be reconciled despite all efforts, but that does not detract from all that he has done.
Thank you Marian - you have greatly enriched our specialty and helped countless patients.'

Simon Kendall (Past President SCTS)

'So sad at the death of Marian. I first met him as a student nurse at LGI. He was quite formidable.
It was a few years later when he became a good friend. His kindness, generosity of spirit and knowledge of a wide variety of subjects were exceptional. His passion for his cardiac work and generosity to help the new generation of cardiac surgeons will always be remembered. His love of mountaineering gave him so much pleasure. He was still climbing and skiing well into his 80s.
Those who knew him will never forget him. He has now ascended to a much higher plane.
To learn more about Marian his blog entitled Hearts and Heights and Dreams will give an incite into his life and loves
Rest in peace Marian'

Alison Milthorpe

Karen Harrison-Phipps

'Marian Ionescu was a leading light in our specialty - pericardial heart valves have been a tremendous advance - although not without bumps along the way. He greatly contributed to SCTS establishing its educational reputation and with his funding whilst finding some of our more modern ideas challenging !. My favourite memory is sitting with him at the Cafe de Paris in Monaco drinking coffee and listening to his views on cardiac surgeons and surgery past and present! He was of a generation of personalities that will never be repeated. Thank ypu and RIP Mr Ionescu.'

Tim Graham Past President 2014 - 2016 SCTS

'How sorry I was to read about Mr Ionescu's passing. He performed a coarctation operation on me in 1974 and I have just had to have another op after all this time. Will always remember his white doctors smock with a banana in his pocket, but never saw him eat anything. I remember him bringing all the doctors to see me and would draw on my back in biro to show what he done. Thankyou to a ma who l will always remember.'

Frank Hawkins. Op at LGI 1974

The first time I met Doctor Marian Ionescu I was a first year student nurse on ward 21, ie Intensive Care Unit. It had two single rooms and a nightingale layout as the main ward. I was told that Dr Ionescu had climbed a mountain range to get out of Romania during which he had a cardiac arrest and was saved by his wife Christina whom I never met. She went to Ireland to further her education to be allowed to practice medicine in England. I do remember Dr Ionescu'e clubbed fingers. Doctor Ionescu was given a job by Mr. Geoffrey Wooler. Doctor Wooler owned an island to which he could send the doctors on the cardiac roster for respite. Cardiac surgery was hard work. I know that Dr. Ionescu made pigs valves the night prior to the day's surgery. From 1966 I worked spasmodically on ward 21 and then chose to "staff" there from June 1999 until mid ` 1971. I remember that our post op open heart patients rarely survived, each had little hope of survival by the time they came for surgery. Many were already in chronic heart failure. One high point was a young boy who had been turned down for surgery by Dr Barnard in South Africa and Barnard had told his parents to bring him to Leeds. Dr Ionescu fashioned a new heart where the boy had only one ventricle. The boy left ward 21 and later can running back wearing his check dressing gown to see the nurses who had looked after him. I believe this was the first time anything so mammoth had been done.
When Mr Ionescu found out that I was leaving he said that I could not leave, I had to stay to look after his patients. That was nicer than a "Goodbye" I was in London ay Guys Hospital 'specialing' a Turkish man post op open heart surgery. My change over nurse reported that he had chest pain and we were waiting for the consultant to come and advise. After taking routine obs. I "stripped" his big fat red rubber chest tubes. Was satisfied to see lots of blood clots being forced into the bottles at the foot end of the bed. When the surgeon arrived the patient told him he wasn't in pain, the nurse had made it go away. The surgeon asked me what I had done. "Oh, where did you learn to do that" At The General Infirmary at Leeds. " What! you worked for IONESCU?" yes. "I want you to come here and work for me" Dr Ionescu's name had spread already. Marion will be remembered for longer than the number of years he lived. May he be remembered well.

Susan Jensen nee Wrigley (LGI 1966 to 1971)